Will writing a blog entry induce sleep? In the writer?
I hope so, as this apparently vital function has been eluding me this last week, leading to an increasing feeling of non-recovery from these runs.
Today's run was the long one, as the kid had a 4 hour birthday party and opportunities to get out tomorrow are going to be limited. The result 20km, 1:34:25 felt ploddy the whole way, though I was conscious of pulling back almost the whole distance and maintaining the best barefoot form I could in shoes. Yes, shoes - horrors!
The difference that the bulk on the sole makes is astonishing - a fore/midfoot landing is virtually impossible as the heel plate will invariably contact first, unless the "bike pedalling" action espoused by the barefoot gurus keeps the knees high enough. I found I was not pounding on my heels, but I was sure back to the heelstrike pattern - evidenced by the impact-type soreness in my quads for the first hour or so after the run.
The advantage of the shoes (Nike Bowerman Series) is that the rubbing discomfort under the ball of my foot caused by my foot movement in the VFFs on longer runs didn't appear. Perhaps there is an argument here for training in the VFFs and racing / longer runs in one of the minimalist shoes like the Newton etc.
I know the purists would be screeching at me now to "just ditch all these things altogether", but I'm just too darn gutless to run naked barefoot. The few little bits I've tried on the gloriously smooth paths along the river haven't felt bad (abrasive, but not bad), but I just can't get my head around it. One of my fears is for that pesky little pinky toe that is so luxuriously nestled underneath its neighbour will be the site of many a nasty blister. This area, in fact, is the only visible site of wear in the VFFs, indicating that I rotate and scuff this portion of my foot on landing or push-off. (And the purists start yelling again....).
I've been very conscious of fuel this last week, having been hot and humid, and taking on the new mileage. I have been drinking water at every opportunity and subsequently peeing like a fountain. The amount of sweat literally trickling off me after runs/, though, tells me that I need it. I noted today that I felt decidedly awkward in the belly prior to the run - could be the pancakes, who knows - but once I got going and the sweat began, I didn't feel thirsty, and I felt more ..... bouyant. The sensation really was one of becoming steadily less waterlogged and more comfortable as the run progressed. Now, with no way to judge the adequacy of my fluid intake this week, I must err on the side of drowning, rather than certain heat exhaustion, but it made me think about a more scientific approach to this marathon prep. If the running program is finely tuned, so must the rest...
This led to run fuel, as I have noticed that I start to flag significantly after an hour on the road. According to the trusty web, I have used a considerable weight of carbohydrates in this time. Reading a little more about "hitting the wall", various texts state fairly specific amounts of available carbohydrate / glycogen stores for given sex / bodyweights, and this has led me to think more...
I am not a big guy. I am 6'4" (194cm) and 73kg. If I stand in front of a strong light, you can see lunch. It occurred to me that I may not carry the average stock of available fuel, so I shall begin a search for a home made (read cheap) source of on-the-run fuel.
First stop on the google trail was this well-written blog by the (never home)makers, featuring a run snack that fits amongst the ingredient list of my breakfast cereal and sounds downright yummy. Here is the link:
http://www.neverhomemaker.com/2010/09/long-run-fuel-marathon-chunks.html
I haven't read much more of their stuff yet, but what I have is darn good.
Potentially, these little slices could be divided up for consumption at correct carbohydrate "dose" per unit of time on the road. The shopping list is complete.
Sleepy?
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